The present invention broadly relates to a new and improved construction of an illumination device for transport systems, especially, although not exclusively, for the illumination of escalators or passenger walkways.
There is already known to the art an illumination device according to the German Petty Patent No. 88 02 483.0, published May 19, 1988, in which controllable groups of light sources are arranged along the balustrade at the handrail guide profile and/or at the skirting cover of the escalator or the passenger walkway. The light sources are mounted at the outside and the inside at the balustrade below the handrail in the form of a light rod. If there is used a glass plate for the balustrade then it is possible to ensure for visibility of the light rod at all sides. Furthermore, it has been proposed to arrange the light sources in a sunken arrangement at the inside of the balustrade at the skirting ledge or at the outer balustrade cover ledge.
A drawback of the prior art device resides in the fact that although such type of arrangements achieve an appealing effect, they nonetheless require a high expenditure as concerns their construction and installation. Light sources which are arranged at the handrail guide profile require an increased expenditure in mechanical and electrical equipment. Additionally, such type of illumination devices are only then foolproof against vandalism when they are arranged at the outside or exterior of the escalator. In such an arrangement they only achieve their effect in conjunction with balustrade-glass plates.